The 101 Who Made The Twentieth Century

From industrialists to adventurers, from politicians to entertainers – discover the great minds and big personalities that have impacted our world. The history of mankind is a never-ending story of change, revolution and evolution but no span of a hundred years can claim to have changed the world so dramatically and so rapidly as the Twentieth Century – a century where the empires of the past crumbled to make way for new superpowers and a new age.

Built on science, exploration, and a desire to express new creative possibilities, a century where the world was drawn into one war after another. It was also a century where radio, film, television, cars, planes and finally computers drew us closer together than at any other point in history. It was a century of unprecedented change. Change that was born out of the actions of individuals — what they created, what they discovered, what they destroyed.

Who were the 101 people who drove the changes in every aspect of life that made the Twentieth Century and set-up the Twenty First? A decade and a half since the close of the century we can take a considered look at the people most responsible for the events that changed their world and made ours.

In this series we count down from a hundred and one to number one the names of those who, in the judgement of experts, including those who contribute to the series, most influentially shaped the century and our world.